hone your grading skills -- shield nickel

MS-60 to PR-63

 

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MS64*. A higher grade wouldn't surprise me. For me to grade it any lower, I would be suffering from tequila hangover.

Wonderful coin. Only nickels tone like that !

So much points to 65+... great planchet, fabulous fields. The shield weakness at 7 o'clock holds it back just a little.

Whazzup with the word CENTS ? Is that die polish lines ? Or something on the slab ?

...and it's education time. How does one tell the difference between strike weakness and worn out dies ?

 

Is there something about shield nickels that they frequently have funk in the lettering ?

Now that you mention it, I recall shopping for proof Shields a while back and many had lettering a lot like this. We puzzled for a while... strike doubling ? the mystical Longacre doubling ? We never figured it out.

 

I like it as a 65 coin. NGC tends to lke original looking pieces like this and could have graded it 66 though.

 

Here's a quick tip a wise man once told me to be able to tell the difference between a worn die and a weak strike... On a worn die, the worn areas will have luster. On a weak strike, the area that is weak will lack luster (or the luster will have a different look). This is particularly so with nickel being so hard, but also true with other metals. Keep that in mind when evaluating a coin.

If you use that tip and look closely at the pictures, you can do a pretty good job of telling the difference on the obverse (because it shows both areas of weak strike and areas of a worn die).

All IMHO.

 

What I was referring to is the letters that are often broken on the reverse, not in the motto on the obverse. This was especially common in 1868. I do not know of any varieties where the letters of the motto are broken.

 

i am filling in for him with my 58.

 

Solid 65.

 

MS 63-64 leaning toward 64. Nice toning, a sweet coin.

 

NGC graded the coin MS 65.

Here are my subjective opinions on the coin:

I loved this coin the second I saw it, and short of the weak obverse strike and a few miniscule carbon specs, I can't really understand why the coin didn't grade higher. Take a look at the large photos and see if you can find any contact marks. I see a few tiny ones on the reverse fields, and a few hidden on the obverse -- none of which are visible to my naked eye.

For some odd reason, it is hard to find shield nickels attractively toned. When you do, they are generally proof coins, so finding a business strike with attractive toning is a real challenge.

Thanks to everyone for their comments & guesses. I appreciate it.

Have fun....Mike